Quick, name 10 things about yourself that you love.

How’d you do?

If that was easy, awesome! See how long you can make your list.

If that was harder than you expected, or the negative things tried to get in the way, you have some work to do on your self-acceptance.

And if it was really a struggle, don’t worry.

You can learn to love yourself.

How can I be so sure?

Because it wasn’t too many years ago that I was so busy feeling unlovable that I couldn’t have named anything about myself that was special—much less have appreciated those characteristics.

What a painful place I existed in most of the time.

In my heart I knew that I was supposed to be happy, but I kept thinking the world had to change and everything had to align perfectly before I could find happiness.

I am so grateful that I discovered that I held the key to happiness all along–and that this also revealed the path to releasing and maintaining my weight. 

That key was choosing to be happy now regardless of the circumstances. To let go of the expectation that anyone or anything had to change to make me happy.

One of the ways I began to make that change—and that has worked well for my clients—is to begin appreciating your body and life as it is right now, instead of focusing on all the ways it needs to change.

This includes looking for all the ways you CAN love and appreciate yourself right now.

Self-acceptance is one of the areas you need to strengthen to Love Your Way Slim.

When you fully accept yourself, you love who you are, exactly as you are. You know you are perfectly imperfect. You don’t compare yourself to others, and you don’t wish you were different. You acknowledge, appreciate, and adore all of you—including the less-than-perfect and shadow sides.

From this empowered place, you then choose the body you want to create. Not because there is something wrong with where you are now–but because there is someplace new you want to go.

Can you feel the difference?

Here’s an assignment to help  strengthen your self-acceptance.

Write about all the things that make you lovable, or that you appreciate about yourself. This can include your personal style, talents, charm, what you do, how well parts of your body function or how good they look—anything you can think of. Shoot for (or surpass!) 100 things about yourself that you like, love, or appreciate.

While it may seem odd–or even wrong–to sing your own praises, if you think about the fact that Source (God, the Universe, All-That-Is—whatever works for you) loves and adores you exactly as you are, than all you are doing is agreeing with the Creator.

You are praising what your Higher Coach praises.

Bonus! By unconditionally loving yourself, you are opening your heart to unconditionally loving others.

Try it today. Let go of the need to be perfect or self-critical, and look for those things that make you lovable. Acknowledge how good it feels, and then share that love with another.

Together we can do it!